Process of making cans



Dec. 27, 1927. 1,6545135 v. MAUCK PROCESS OF MAKING CANS Filed March 1922 FIG 1/22 is to be understood that I do not desire to claime eams of sheat Patented Dec. 27, 1927. I.

, 1,554,135; 1 U ED STATES PATENT. OFFICE.

VICTOR IAUGK, OI ROBBIS'IOWN, IE'NNSYLVANIA, I

IAC'IUBING GOIYANY, O1! CONSHOHOCKEN, PENNSYLVANIA,

PENNSYLVANIA.

nssrenoa 'ro. roan woon mu- .1- oonrom'non' or raocnss or Mannie cans.

Original application filed April 14, 1921, Serial No. 481,274. Divided and this application iiled larch 10,

1922. Serial H0. 542,742.

My invention is especially designed and adapted for the formation of cansused 1n the transportation and Storage of ice-cream.

' Such cans are used by wholesale manufac- I turers to deliver ice-cream, water ice, frozen custards etc., to retail dealers, and are used by the latter as containers for such products while they are being dispensed; the em tied cans being thereafter returned to the w ole- 1 salers to be refilled and again. distributed.

flheretore, such cans must be extremely .durable to withstand the repeated rough handling and consequent extreme stresses and wear to which they are inevitably subjected 15 by such hard usage.

Moreover, as cans chargedwith such perishable commodities must be retained in ice water or other refrigerant liquid, their bodies must be permanently liquid tight, 1m and, in order to prevent contamination of their contents, they must be adapted to be substantially hermetically sealed by thelr removable closures and yet capable of belng instantly opened and closed to 2 pensation ottheir contents. Furthermore, as it is customary to' dispense ice-cream and similar products by means of substantially hemi herical measuring scoops; such cans must e so designed that substantially all so of their contents may be readily removed by such scoops. I V I Therefore, the dried. and effect of my invention'is to provi e cans havin the characteristics abovecontemplat'ed. owever, it

limit my invention to such specific use.

i This is a division oi my application Serial No. 461,274 filed April '14, 1921, and the can formin mechanism herein contemplated isi that case.

' In the drawings; Fig.1 is a view of a can constructed by e process herein claimed, and provided with a removable lid closure;

Fig.' II is a vertical sectlonal view of the can and closure shown in Fig. I, showing the substantially sealed relation thereofr'.

Fi III is a perspective view of a sheet meta cylinder which is the blank .from so which the body of the can shown in Figs. I

Q anil llligrformed. f 1' di. isa tiveviewo ac in rig Pe metal which is at blank facilitate diserspectiveit similarly bent the can, .when in the seal said lid closure on t e can adapted to form the flan eto support and ody. Flg. V is an elevation of the ring shown in Fig. IV, butpartly expanded toward its final nged form.

Fig. VI is an elevation of the artly formed can body with the completed anged ring fitted upon the top thereof; the bottom of said body being flared toreceive the bottom plate.

Fig. VII is a diametrical sectional view of a bottom late adapted to be fitted in the flared en of the can body shown in Fl VI.

Fig. VIII is a diagrammatic axial sec- .tional view of said can body, flan e. ring and bottom plate; showing said ottom plate supported upon its spmningmandrel and the opposite end of said body supported uponits expanding and suporting mandrel.

Fig. IX 1s a fragmentar axial sectional view of said can body and ttom late, similar to Fig. VIII, but showing the rim of the bottom platev partially spun over the bottom of the can.

Fig. X is a fragmentary sectional view of substantially full size, showing the. joint betweenthe can body and the bottom plate as it exists in a finished can.

Referring to Figs. I to 'X inclusive, which shows a convenient form of ice-cream can -constructed in accordance with my invention; the can body 1 having theremovable lid closure 2, conveniently provided with the rigid handle 3,'is formed of primarily flat sheet metal. A- rectangular piece of such metal, convenientl low carbon steel, is first bent to-the cylin rical blank form 5 indicated in Fig. III and then united at its abutting edges 6, conveniently b an electric welding operation to form a lank from which the bod of a can such as shown in Figs. I and is formed. A. pylindrical ringB'Of sheet metal, shown in ig. IV, isand united at its abutting edges 9 to constitute a blank from whic may be formed the flange ring 10 as a fixture 111E011 said can body 1, as indicated in to support sai lid closure 2 and substantially hermetically seal the joint between the bottom edge of saidclosure and sition shown in Fig. Said flange ring lank is'expanded, by

. 12 upon said can blank 5.

said flange ring 10, slightly stretching the metal of both of said parts, to insure that they shall thereafter remain in intimate con tact. Such expansion is conveniently effected by thrusting the mandrel 13 into said blank 5, as indicated in Fig. VIII.

However, during the aforesaid operation of forming said head 12 upon said can body 5; I find it convenient to expand the bottom edge of said blank- 5 as indicated at 14 in Fig. VI, so that said blank will readily fit over the bottom plate 15 as shown in Fig. VIII. Moreover, as the commercial sheet metal, of which said blank 5 is formed, is

primarily in an annealed soft ductile state, such workin of the bottom edge of said blank 5, which as hereinafter described, is ultimately rolled back .to cylindrical form,"

imparts to it a desired degree of stiffness to resist deformation of the bottom edge of .thecan by the subsequent usage to which it is subjected.

Said bottomplate 15 is also formed from primarily flat sheet metal, by .pressing oper- Y ations which first cut a circular disk of such -metal and then distort it to the cylindrical form shown in Fig. VII. It is to be particularl noted that the circumferential edge 16 o the cylindrical portion 17 of said bottom plate 15, which is presented upwardly in the can against the inner face of the cylindrical wall of the latter, as shown in Figs. VIII, IX and X, is substantially sharp so that there is no crevice formed at the junctionof said blanks 5 and 15. It may be observed that, because said edge 16' is thus sharp and as large in diameter as may be to ultimately tightly fit the inner circumference of the blank 5, and because it is impossible to make, said blank 5 precisely circular; it would. be extremely diflicult, if not impossible, to fit the substantially sharp edge16 of'the cylindrical portion-17 within said blank 5, if'the latter were not previously outwardly'flared, as above described.

- The flared lower'edge 14E of said blank 5 is then constricted upon said cylindrical portion 17 of the bottom plate, as shown in Fig. VIII. Thereafter, the primarily plane annular flange 18 of said bottom plate 15 is bent over the adjacent edge of said can bod blank 5, first, as indicated in full lines in Big. IX, and, finally, to the form shown in Fig. X wherein said annular flange 18 of the bottom plate 15 is cylindrical and in contact with the outer surface of the cylindrical wall of the can body 1; the cydindrical portion 17 of said bottom plate. being likewise in contact with the. inner surface of said cylindrical wall of the can body 1. As hereinafter described, I find it convenient to thus distort said bottom plate flange 18 while spinning it upon the mandrel 19 held under pressure in opposition to said mandrel 13; and by the spinning roller 20, which is movable both parallel with, and transversely to, the axis of said flange, and while said mandrels 13 and 19 are rotated in coaxial relation.

Finally, said can body 1 is coated, all over,

with a film of some material capable of resisting the corrosive effect of water upon the ferric metal parts of the can above described. For instance, I find it convenient to coat the can with such a film 20 of'block tin, as indicated in Fig. X; so that the entire surfaces of said can 1 and its closure 2 are Slnoothly continuous and. consequently, may be readily cleaned by washing them.

Although there are various novel features of procedure in the construction of the can above described; the claims in this case are limited to the process whereby the top of the can blank 5 and its ring 10 are expanded, and the bottom of the can constricted upon its bottom plate 15 and the flange 18 of the latter constricted upon said can body as above described. It is to be particularly noted that it is an object and effect of the latter operation to minimize the radial projection of the bottom joint of the can, because, to preserve their lacteal contents such cans are embedded in broken ice, in tubs, during transportation and storage and the ice melts into such close conformity with the exterior of the cans that upon any attempt to lift the cans from the ice, the latter is inadvertently lifted and spilled out of said tubs by any projecting portion of the cans thus embedded. Therefore, thecan body blank 5, which is outwardly flared at its bottom edge 14 by the operation illustrated in Fig. IV, is nally left in its preyiously straight c lindrical form as shown In Figs. III and to minimize the radial projection of the bottom joint; as distinguished from ordinary can joints wherein the can body itself is outwardly flanged at its bottom junction.

I do not desire to limit myself to the specific details of construction, or arrangement, or procedure herein set forth, as it is obvious teat various modifications may be made therein without departing from the essential features of my invention, as defined in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. The process of can forming which consists in forming a cylindrical can body from a primarily plane sheet of metal by bendin said sheet and joining the edges thereo said edges being in a joint of substantially the same thickness as said sheet; fitting a flange ring over one end of said can body; simultaneously forming a head on said ring and expanding the opposite end of said can body, to flared form; fitting in the flared end of the said can body a cylindrical portion of a bottom alate having a primarlly plane flange at right angles to the axis of said body; simultaneously expanding said body within said ring and over said bottom plate by thrusting said body axially with respect to said bottom plate, between opposedjmandrels in coaxial relation; rotating said body ring and bottom plate together, by said mandrels; and spinning said bottom plate flange over said body, to substantially concentric cylindrical relation with said body, during the rotation of said arts. 2. lhe process of can forming which consists in forming a cylindrical can body, of uniform inside and outside diameter and having a c lindrical edge at each end there-- of; expan ing one end of said can body, to flared form; thereafter fitting in the flared end of said can body, a substantially sharp edged cylindrical ortion of a bottom plate having a primari y' plane flange at right angles to the axis of said body; thrusting said body axially'with respect to said bottom plate, between opposed mandrels in coaxial relation; rotating said body and bottom plate together, by said mandrels; and spinning said bottom plate flange over said body, to substantially concentric cylindrical relation with said body, and thus returning said flared end to its previous cylindrical form, during the rotation of said parts.

3. The process of can forming which consists in forming a hollow cylindrical can body, of uniform inside and outside diameter and having a cylindrical edge at each end thereof; fitting in one end of said can body a cylindrical portion of a bottom plate having a primarily plane flange at right angles to the axis of said body; rotating said body and bottom plate together while deforming said flange from its primarily plane form to cylindrical form, by pressure of a spinning roller thrust transversely to the axis of rotation of said body and bottom plate; until said flange is spun to cylindrical form, over said body, in hermetically tight relation therewith, during the rotation of said parts. 4

In testimony whereof, I have hereunto signed my name at Oonshohocken, Pennsylvania, this 27th day of February, 1922.

VICTOR MAUCK. 

